“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

6. About Seth’s reference to the myths connected with his name: Set, or Seth, was an Egyptian god of evil (with an animal’s head) whose complicated origins could, it’s thought, reach back in antiquity to at least 7500 B.C. In Judaism, of course, Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve, after Cain and Abel (Genesis 4 and 5). (As one correspondent wrote us: “Seth is also a Hebrew name meaning ‘appointed’ — i.e., the appointed one.”) However, some very early priestly genealogies omit Cain and Abel, and consider Seth as the oldest son of Adam; in the second century A.D., for instance, the Sethites, who were members of a little-known Gnostic sect, thought of Seth, the son of Adam, as the Messiah. Seth also shows up in writings of the ancient occult religious philosophy, the cabala, which was originated by certain Jewish rabbis who sought to interpret the scriptures through numerical values; the soul of Seth is seen as infusing Moses; he was to reappear as the Messiah….

Perhaps it’s been remiss on our parts, but Jane and I haven’t concerned ourselves with any connections her Seth may have with ancient Seths. We don’t believe such relationships exist on any kind of personalized basis, although someday we’ll ask Seth to comment here. We think the name of Jane’s Seth came about through much more pragmatic needs. In Chapter 1 of The Seth Material, Jane quoted Seth-to-be from the 4th session for December 8, 1963, as that personality came through on the Ouija board (which we’d used to initiate these sessions): “You may call me whatever you choose. I call myself Seth. It fits the me of me….” Reincarnation had been mentioned by the 2nd session, but since the concept meant little to us we hardly considered the many names that would be involved. Once Seth gave us a name by which to call him, we simply began using it. I’m sure that at the time Jane had no conscious knowledge about Egyptian, Hebrew, or even Christian origins or uses connected with the name, Seth.